


To sleep, Perchance to (not!) dream

by Ilmare_Ilse



Series: Coco Puffs: The complete Collection [22]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Season/Series 09 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 21:06:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17536259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilmare_Ilse/pseuds/Ilmare_Ilse
Summary: He knew what was going to happen, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it. He was frozen, waiting for his worst fears to come true.Danny's life has been a living nightmare for the last 24, or more, hours. Once things calm down, it's up to Steve to look after his partner, whether he wants to or not.Episode Coda for 9.12.





	To sleep, Perchance to (not!) dream

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a coda for 9.12. I needed to fill some gaps, so this one came out.
> 
> This could be read as slash, but it's not really explicit.
> 
> This was not betaed, so all mistakes are mine.

_He could see Grace driving. It was strange, he wasn’t in the car with her, but it was like he was, only looking from the outside. Almost like it was a movie._

_He could see how scared she was, he could see the creep in the car behind her, rushing her and making her speed up until she lost control of the car._

_He knew what was going to happen, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it. He was frozen, waiting for his worst fears to come true._

 

* * *

 

Someone was shaking his shoulder, and Danny sat up abruptly, bringing the hospital room back into focus.

Only the hand still on his shoulder kept him from tumbling from the chair, and a familiar voice was speaking by his side. “Hey buddy, I think it’s time to go home.”

Danny ignored the voice, focusing on the sight of Grace, asleep on her hospital bed. She was bruised all to hell, had a huge bandage on her head (he was not thinking about the doctors poking inside her brain, or about the skull fracture, because then he’d freak out and wake her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do), but she was healing. They had talked a bit before she went back to sleep, and she was still his Grace. She’d be ok, and he needed to see her sleeping peacefully to convince himself a bit more of that fact.

He finally looked at the other occupants of the room. Rachel seemed better than she had last night. She had changed clothes, and it looked like she had taken his and Steve’s advice to get some rest before coming back to the hospital.

Steve was the one still holding on to his shoulder, apparently waiting for Danny to say something. What that was, Danny had no idea. He was wearing different clothes than the day before, but Danny could never really tell at first look if Steve had slept or not, and he was way too tired to try to guess.

Instead, Danny sat up straighter, forcing a tired smile. “Hey guys. She’s been sleeping like a log. The nurse said that her vitals are great, and that the doc is doing the rounds at 7.30,” he said, checking his watch. It read 6.45, so he hopefully would get enough time to find a coffee before the doctor arrived.

The doctor came and went, bringing good news, but Grace remained blissfully asleep. Danny had managed to get a big coffee before the doctor showed up, and after she left he hurried to the machine down the hall to get another one, because he wanted to stay with Grace until she woke again. He needed to see her with her eyes open, and be there to reassure her that everything would be fine.

Unfortunately, Steve had other ideas. As soon as Danny came back to the room, he took the coffee from Danny’s hands and took a big gulp, making a face at the awful taste. “Geeze, this stuff is terrible!” He said as he left the empty cup on a table by the side of the window.

“Come on, buddy. I’ll drive you home and you can have some food and hopefully some better coffee over there,” Steve continued, motioning towards the door.

Before Danny could start to argue, there was a knock on the door.

Lou peeked in and entered, waving hello while speaking quietly into his phone. “I’m telling you, son, she is doing alright. I’m right here with her. She’s got a few more days in the hospital, but she’s healing. There’s no need for you to change your plans. Those interviews are important, and Grace is well taken care of.”

There was silence for a minute and then Lou continued talking. “She’s asleep right now, but I’ll get her on the phone for you as soon as I can, okay? Alright, I love you son. Take care of your mother for me. Okay, bye.”

Lou looked up from his phone, noticing that he had the attention of everyone in the room. “Oh, Will sends his love. They tried to get a flight back last night, but the weather was awful, and now that Grace is doing better, Renee convinced him to stay and do all the college interviews. But he’s been dying to speak to Grace, so I thought I’d give him a call once she is awake,” he explained. “Of course that only if you’re ok with it,” he corrected, looking at Rachel and Danny for confirmation.

Rachel nodded before Danny could answer. “Yes, of course,” she answered, which for some reason annoyed Danny. Before he could argue, she continued. “Just make sure to keep the excitement to a minimum. The doctor advised us to keep her calm, since increases in her blood pressure could cause headaches or even a migraine.”

Danny swallowed his rebuttal, since Rachel had made it very clear that they couldn’t upset Grace. She had been in surgery only a few hours ago, and Danny didn’t want anyone to disturb her, no matter if it was Will or the queen of England.

Lou nodded in agreement. “Understood. If she’s not up for it, then I’ll just call Will later and explain. He can wait.”

Steve chose that moment to go back to what they were doing before Lou arrived. “Alright Danny, now that that’s settled, let’s get you home.”

Danny didn’t even bother to look at Steve. Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. “No, I’m good.”

Steve moved closer, to speak more quietly. “Come on, buddy. You need to change clothes, get a shower, eat something.”

Danny gave Steve a look. “If you’re so worried about my clothes and what I’m eating, why don’t you head home and bring me something then?”

Steve only returned the same look.

Danny leaned closer, to almost whisper in Steve’s ear. “Listen. I don’t want to leave Rachel alone. She was really worried, and I don’t want to leave her alone in case something happens,” he pleaded.

Lou cleared his throat loudly. “Well, did I mention that I’m all by myself at home for the next couple of weeks? I have nothing but free time, so I was planning on sticking around all day, just to be around in case you all needed anything,” he said with a big smile.

Danny resisted the impulse to glare at Lou and instead turned pleading eyes to Rachel. Unfortunately, he found no sympathy there. “You made me go home last night. Now it’s your turn,” she said drily.

Danny sighed in defeat. “Alright. Just call me if anything changes?” at Rachel’s reassurance, he resigned himself to leave. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” he muttered before picking up his stuff and walking out of the door, not bothering to wait for Steve.

   

* * *

 

Danny wasn’t surprised that Steve would be the one driving, but he was surprised that they were using Steve’s truck. At Danny’s questioning look, he just shrugged. “I don’t have the keys to the Camaro, and I didn’t think you’d give them if I asked.”

Danny chuckled, grudgingly agreeing with Steve’s reasoning.

The drive seemed to last seconds for Danny. He had settled on the passenger seat of Steve’s truck and suddenly they had stopped. He figured he probably dozed part of the way, but he didn’t want to admit it.

He wanted to kick himself for his inattention when he realized that they were not at his place, but at Steve’s.

“What the hell? You wanted me to shower and change my clothes, I can’t do that here!” He protested, not moving to get out of the car.

Steve reached for something on the back seat and placed it on Danny’s lap. “Yes you can. I got you some stuff from your place”

Danny was fuming at the sight of his gym bag, probably filled with his clothes and toiletries. “I could have done it in the hospital,” he bit out.

Steve shook his head, mostly unaffected by Danny’s anger. “Nope. You need food, and sleep. In the hospital you wouldn’t have moved from Grace’s side, and she would have worried at the sight of your stubborn face.”

Danny had nothing to say to Steve’s statement, so with a glare he picked up the bag and got out of the truck.

Steve hurried to unlock the door to his place and watched as Danny practically stomped upstairs, towards the bathroom he usually used when he crashed at Steve’s.

Steve thought about fixing something quick for Danny to eat, but he decided against it, knowing that Danny would just rush out of the door as soon as he was ready unless Steve was there to stop him.

Danny took less than five minutes in the bathroom, but when he came out Steve was there waiting for him. “Come on, you’re taking a nap,” he ordered, leading Danny towards his room.

Danny was fuming, but he did as Steve instructed, following him into the room and sitting on the bed. He took off his shoes, but made no other moves.

Steve stood there, waiting for Danny to lie down, but Danny had other ideas. “Why are you standing there like that? I don’t need you to watch me take a nap. Go do something! Fix me the food you promised. Or better yet, go off for a swim or a run. I promise I won’t run back to the hospital while you’re away,” he griped.

Steve didn’t doubt that Danny would stick around if he left for a swim, by now he had resigned himself that he wouldn’t get back to the hospital any time soon. But there was something else that Danny was avoiding, and if Steve left the room, he knew Danny would get away with it. “Nah, I’m fine here. There’s no use trying to get you to eat something when you’re worried and exhausted, so I’ll just wait until you wake up after your nap to see if you’re in the mood for food,” he said, not moving from his spot.

Danny wouldn’t budge. “I don’t want you standing there watching me sleep like a creep.”

“Fair enough. As soon as you lie down and close your eyes, I’m out of here. Scout’s Honor,” Steve said, crossing his heart.

Danny frowned, glancing at the bed as if it was the enemy. He seemed to be considering laying down, but couldn’t really do it. “Did you see the car?” He asked suddenly.

Steve nodded, his eyes clouding in concern.

Danny wasn’t asking for sympathy, or really expecting an answer. “I haven’t seen any of the crime scene photos, you know? But I know what that car looks like,” he said quietly, his eyes turned to the floor, but he was seeing something else in his head.

“I know exactly what happened to that car. I’ve seen it hundreds of times before. And I know exactly what happens to the drivers inside those cars,” Danny continued, swallowing with difficulty. “I know what it takes to get a skull fractured, how-how hard she smashed her head against-against _everything_ inside that car,” he breathed, fighting tears.

Steve moved closer, and sat on the bed by Danny’s side. He put his hand on Danny’s back but let him continue.

“I c-can’t, ok? I close my eyes, and all I see is Grace inside that car,” Danny cried, lifting his hands to cover his face.

Steve moved to pull Danny close. “Hey, it’s alright. She’s going to be alright. She’s healing,” he said gently. “She’s going to be out of the hospital pretty soon. She’s going to recover and get released, and she’s going to need her Danno close,” he said gently. “She’s going to need you to be in top form, so you need to take care of yourself and get some rest, alright?”

Danny just clung to Steve, shaking from head to toe. Steve held on, giving Danny what comfort he could.

It took a while until Danny calmed down somewhat, and by then he could barely keep his eyes open.

“Alright buddy, time to get some sleep,” Steve said gently, helping Danny to finally lay down.

Danny was half asleep, but still fighting it. “Mhhnoooo, don’ wanna sleep,” he mumbled, still holding to Steve’s hand.

Steve breathed a long suffering sigh, sitting on the bed to take off his boots without letting go of Danny’s hand. “Alright, scoot over,” he said once he was done.

Danny blinked, confused. “What?”

“Just because I’m letting you crash in my bed, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to be laying on the floor, so move, come on.” Steve said in a no nonsense tone.

Danny moved just enough to let Steve lie down, and then watched confused as Steve got in the bed next to him and pulled him close.

Danny ended up with his head  and one arm on Steve’s chest, which was all kinds of odd, even for them. “What’s going on?” He asked, confused.

Steve chuckled, as he started to gently rub Danny’s back. “You are going to get a few hours of sleep, then we’re getting some food in you, so you can go back to the hospital. Since you’re being your stubborn self, I’m going to stay here to make sure that you actually sleep. Unless you have a problem with that?”

Even half asleep, Danny held tighter to Steve. “Mmhno, don’t go,” he mumbled. “Isn’t thi’ weird? I mean, I’s weird, but not ‘bad’ weird, you kno’ whatImean?” he rambled relaxing even more against Steve.

Steve chuckled, continuing his hand movements. “It’s not that weird, buddy. Don’t worry about it. And I’m not going anywhere, just get some sleep.” He reassured quietly.

Danny drifted off to the sound of Steve’s voice and the gentle rise and fall of his chest. All of his nightmares forgotten for the moment.

 

* * *

The End

  

 

    

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> I've read some lovely codas for this episode, but most of them were focused on Steve, and I coulnd't see Danny just getting over the fact that Grace almost died in that accident, so this fic came out.
> 
> I'd really love to see what you think of it!


End file.
